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I found this to be quite the engrossing film about subject matter that can be tough to watch. The filmmakers get a good gritty feel to a period of time that must have been tough to get through. The actors do a fine job with the material especially the young brit who gets stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Throughout the majority of the film there was a palpable sense of hopelessness, hostility and dead-lock, with suspense playing a prominent role in achieving that. What the film also excelled in was the gut-wrenching empathy toward the people drawn into the conflict - whether innocent or made an article to one party or another - with a few moments showing the brutality, cruelty, unfairness and silliness of war. Can be hard to follow all the different fractions if you're unfamiliar with the matter

A tense and compact thriller that manages to excite and educate about a specific historical era, while also finding some touching moments of humanity amidst all the violence. The film unfolds sort of like a docudrama, briefly establishing characters and then immersing them in the heat of conflict without much exposition, which heightens the film's tension and explosive effect. A hidden gem of 2014 and smartly and thoroughly executed.

Most Americans know next to nothing about The Troubles and "'71" doesn't do a hell of a lot of hand holding, but paints the conflict in broad strokes. Importantly, "'71" is quite effective at showing the kind of crazy that was going on in Ireland during the time, not a lot of movies have done that before. I had a hard time in figuring out what exactly was going on, who was on what side, but maybe that's the point. It's a decent movie, not a whole lot more.

A good natured British soldier is tossed through a meat-grinder and endures an unbelievable amount of horrible coincidences as a way of illustrating how fucked up the streets of Belfast were in 1971. Sometimes the action is exciting, but one gets the impression the soldier is merely a sacrificial lamb, and the surrounding conflict is merely a metaphor for "violence begets violence" and "think about the children". Not a horrible message film, but a little too on the nose for my tastes.

Atmospheric thriller, which gets to the meat of the plot very early on, and then turns into a suspenseful game of cat-and-mouse played out in dark, moody locations with a few neatly portrayed supporting characters. The director did a good job of portraying how confusing the N.I. situation can be for an outsider, and how loyalties can depend on many unpredictable factors. I thought the ending was a bit of a let-down though, quite formulaic. The first half however was gripping.

Really disappointed in this one. Horribly shot and edited action props up a cliche riddled story with characters so thin they are actually hard to tell apart. Surprised by all the high scores for this, especially surprised by all the praise Jack O'Connell has gotten for his underwhelming performance in an underwritten role. Video review: https://youtu.be/al_Ntdx3Zl4

A graphic movie about a horrendous true story. There is pretty much non-stop action. The young soldier finds himself at the wrong place at the wrong time & his struggle to survive was both scary & riveting. I needed subtitles for the spoken English. Their thick accents were hard to understand. Acting performances were excellent throughout. Jack O'Connell made an excellent lead. Production quality was good. Music and sound was also good. There was not much setup to the story though.